Why are we trying to be the opposite of Alabama?

[KnoxvilleVol13]

Hahahahaahahahahaha

Yeah I’m done if you think Fulmer was better than Neyland

Im talking about since the forward pass and since black people have been allowed to play football. Yes the general is obviously the best but thats like pre dinosaurs type of debate lol. And honestly fulmer won big with majors players to start. If you wanna argue majors was better I can live with that but I dont get hating on somebody who's done more for UT than you'll ever dream of doing. Its silly. Fulmer is a hall of famer for a reason. Bobby Bowden didn't win alot towards the end of his career either. Doesnt make them a bad coach, Its normal.

 

[zjcvols]

Im talking about since the forward pass and since black people have been allowed to play football. Yes the general is obviously the best but thats like pre dinosaurs type of debate lol. And honestly fulmer won big with majors players to start. If you wanna argue majors was better I can live with that but I dont get hating on somebody who's done more for UT than you'll ever dream of doing. Its silly. Fulmer is a hall of famer for a reason. Bobby Bowden didn't win alot towards the end of his career either. Doesnt make them a bad coach, Its normal.

Well I didn’t take $7M from the university I supposedly love for being bad at TWO different jobs so I have that going.

 

[KnoxvilleVol13]

Well I didn’t take $7M from the university I supposedly love for being bad at TWO different jobs so I have that going.

You've never put on the pads either. Or went into a recruits living room and sold Tennessee. You haven't done anything but type on a keyboard about a hall of fame football coach. Correct. You've done 0% for Tennessee in any way shape or form. But go you volnation staff member. LOL

 

[livefaith]

In 2010 Alabama wore Nike Pro-Combat alternate uniforms that included a giant Braves ripoff A on their pants and a partial stripe. Also, their helmet stripe and jersey numbers featured houndstooth print. / thread

LOL, yep end thread. I guess he'll not know how to praise his favorite team now that it shows that they have sold their soul already.

 

[livefaith]

Alabama hired 4 coaches that couldn't cut it post stallings-pre saban. Maybe Tennessee is doing the same thing?

Irrelevant things like that have nothing to do with it. Geeesh. It's the smokey greys and 3rd Down for What, that keeps us from winning . Duhhh

 

[JRich]

I don’t think that UT is trying to be like any or the opposite of any other program. I guess you can say that Oregon started it all, but every school, including Bama and even Div II & Div III schools have new and alternate uniforms. This is a strange take. What’s wrong with starting something new or even staying current in the landscape?

You’ll never know if you’ve hired the next great coach until you hire a coach. There are so many factors that go into hiring a coach, and you really don’t know what you have until you play the games. OP isn’t even giving CJH a chance. UT hasn’t played a game with this staff and he is already a bad hire? Auburn under Malzauhn and Ole Miss under Freeze were so gimmicky that they beat Bama, more than once. So gimmicky that it made Bama realize they needed to score points to stay on top, and they dramatically changed their offensive philosophy. The blue chippers go to whoever can get them in the league, CJH should be able to oblige, at least on offense, if given time.

 

[chrismc1000]

Imo it takes three things to have a successful program.

1. Coach, your head coach needs to be able to pump up the players, evaluate talent, build up team moral, develop players etc...

2. Money, need to have deep pockets. Alabama, imo, can afford to pay Saban that coin because their isn't pro teams in the state. That college is their pro team it's the center of the state, when you think of sports from Alabama you think of the crimson tide. Tennessee has several different teams and Vandy. Most people who graduate college on average that can easily make money graduate from Vandy it's a very prestigious college.

3. Administrators, these are the people who pull all the strings and are the servants of the high life donors that we have. They make it all happen, they budget the money. If the administration isn't willing to spend the coin on the football team like Bama does then we won't make it.

So when people say tradition I'd say we get the right people to keep the tradition.

 

[VolInNW]

This thread is either in the top 10 of all time bad threads, or this is an absolutely masterful troll job that this Gump has been running for 6 pages now. Not sure which.

 

[KnoxvilleVol13]

I don’t think that UT is trying to be like any or the opposite of any other program. I guess you can say that Oregon started it all, but every school, including Bama and even Div II & Div III schools have new and alternate uniforms. This is a strange take. What’s wrong with starting something new or even staying current in the landscape?

You’ll never know if you’ve hired the next great coach until you hire a coach. There are so many factors that go into hiring a coach, and you really don’t know what you have until you play the games. OP isn’t even giving CJH a chance. UT hasn’t played a game with this staff and he is already a bad hire? Auburn under Malzauhn and Ole Miss under Freeze were so gimmicky that they beat Bama, more than once. So gimmicky that it made Bama realize they needed to score points to stay on top, and they dramatically changed their offensive philosophy. The blue chippers go to whoever can get them in the league, CJH should be able to oblige, at least on offense, if given time.

Bama doesnt wear alternate unis. Nike made everybody wear a nike pro combat uniform in 2010 and them and bama got into a big fight over it. Throwback uniforms are fine and I think alternate uniforms are cool. I think Tennessee and Alabama being the old school tradition schools in the sec shouldn't wear new alternate unis. Again its just an opinion but my favorite thing about Tennessee was them and Alabama always wearing the same helmets and unis. I think thats way cooler in todays trying to fit in with the everybody else culture. I think Tennessee and Alabama are above that. which is a compliment that everybody is taking wildly offensive.

 

[VOLnMiami]

Yes. We fired a loaded SEC staff who could recruit their ass off and knew the SEC and its recruiting ground like the back of their hand. To hire a DC who coached on the worst defense in the history of the Penn State. To hire a HC who made UCF worse every year and has shown zero ability to recruit in even the top half of the SEC. Were battling Vandy/kentucky in Recruiting. Pruitt inherited a 4 win roster with the worst qb in the history of the program. If you say he had 2 years to find a qb thats fair, but we all knew that would take 5/6 years to turn around and when it didn't happen in 3 we reacted like children and hired a worse staff and have a worse roster/recruiters bc of it. Well be ready to fire JH by the end of this year and well do the whole stupid chirade again and set our program back another 10 years. But yes we fired the coach trying to be like bama. God forbid that ever happens lol. At least we can still checker the stadium and lose by 40 to real SEC schools.

And we just got rid of a coach and his staff that went 3-7 last season and lost to Georgia St the season before and got demolished by Kentucky last season...Oh and by the way how did those so called good recruits work out for us?...They didn't, they lost and transfered out...Pruitt was unproven as a head coach and it showed he had absolutely no clue what he was doing..We had the worse offense in Tennessee history last season and yet you would take them over the staff we have now?!?...Wow, You do understand that more than half of UCF's team opted out last season due to the pandemic thus CJH's record went down a little but he still had a winning record with what he had left...Our defense was horrible last season and we got ran over by every decent team we played and even the bad teams we lost to ran all over us...It is pretty obvious you have no idea what your talking about so my best advice to you is support who we got and hope he takes us to another level and if that is too hard for you then I suggest you find another team or hobby to support...I hear fishing is popular so maybe you should go throw and line in the water hope something bites.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Tennessee used to be a traditional SEC power in college football. We wore our historic home and away uniforms. We never thought gimmicks and alternate uniforms were cool. When Alabama went through their bad years in the 90s/early 2000s, they didn't start checkering the stadium and wearing corny alternate uniforms. They stayed true to their tradition and never felt the need to try to do the lame stuff everybody else in cfb did to try to be relevant. UT today seems to think wearing smokey grey uniforms and black uniforms this year isn't a slap in the face of what real Tennessee football is and stands for. We hire coaches who cant recruit in the SEC and play the opposite brand of football that wins in the SEC. I hate Alabama and hope they lose every game they play but UT throwing away all tradition to be the opposite of Alabama doesnt seem like a way to not get the breaks beat off of you year in and year out. Why Tennessee fans continue to embrace being a corny football program is mind boggling. Pretending hiring coaches that get SMOKED in recruiting and play a gimmicky brand of football translating into catching the big boys in the SEC looks stupid and we pretend it doesnt every year. Its embarrassing to the tradition of the program on all levels.

First off stop talking about Bama. They are an anomaly. There isn’t a single person on this planet that could have predicted Saban would be anywhere near what he has become. Nick Sabans don’t grow on trees. We likely won’t see another one.

Second, who cares what uniforms we wear? Why does that matter at all? Gimmicky offense? You seem to be an older TN fan. You love tradition. That’s cool so do I. But college football has changed drastically. Saban and Dabo runs what you likely would call gimmicky offense. So does Kiffin and Day. You have to evolve.

Talking about coaches, please elaborate on who you would have hired? And please stop with the a great coach will come for the money. That’s been proven false so many times.

 

[KnoxvilleVol13]

And we just got rid of a coach and his staff that went 3-7 last season and lost to Georgia St the season before and got demolished by Kentucky last season...Oh and by the way how did those so called good recruits work out for us?...They didn't, they lost and transfered out...Pruitt was unproven as a head coach and it showed he had absolutely no clue what he was doing..We had the worse offense in Tennessee history last season and yet you would take them over the staff we have now?!?...Wow, You do understand that more than half of UCF's team opted out last season thus CJH's record went down a little but he still had a winning record with what he had left...Our defense was horrible last season and we got ran over by every decent team we played and even the bad teams we lost to ran all over us...It is pretty obvious you have no idea what your talking about so my best advice to you is support who we got and hope he takes us to another level and if that is too hard for you then I suggest you find another team or hobby to support...I hear fishing is popular so maybe you should go throw and line in the water hope something bites.

He went 3-7 in an ALL SEC schedule with JG playing qb. So when JH goes 7-5 this year that means hell have won the same amount of sec games as Pruitt last year. Maybe Pruitt wasn't a good coach but I would have liked to see him have 1 or 2 more recruiting classes and a halfway decent qb. JG put us down 14 to Kentucky quick, Not Pruitt. JG ruined the UGA game we were leading at halftime down there, not Pruitt. Its hard to find a good qb thats why there's like 4/5good ones in the whole country. He recruited great all things considering what he walked into here. I think we panicked a year early and depleted our roster to hire a HC nobody else wanted and a DC nobody else wanted. Thats all im saying and its just an opinion. Pruitt being bad doesnt make JH a great hire.

 

[Lilcarl731]

I love tradition. Love it in sports, love it in the military, love it in society.

But blindly following tradition is how you die.

Tradition can be a cavalry charge against tanks. It can be a Sopwith Camel against an F-22. It can be the single wing against more modern formations. It can be refusing to incorporate a passing game because the forward pass is just a gimmick.

Tradition when it makes sense is great. Innovation and adjusting to the circumstances when those make more sense are also great.

Forget about following Bama. Screw Bama.

Let's give Coach Heupel and AD White some room to work, shall we? They might just find a new path, a Tennessee path, that leads to championships.

Go Vols!

I love this post so much. I also think OP has some merit but this is the perfect perspective on writing our own book and letting go of the past

 

[KnoxvilleVol13]

First off stop talking about Bama. They are an anomaly. There isn’t a single person on this planet that could have predicted Saban would be anywhere near what he has become. Nick Sabans don’t grow on trees. We likely won’t see another one.

Second, who cares what uniforms we wear? Why does that matter at all? Gimmicky offense? You seem to be an older TN fan. You love tradition. That’s cool so do I. But college football has changed drastically. Saban and Dabo runs what you likely would call gimmicky offense. So does Kiffin and Day. You have to evolve.

Talking about coaches, please elaborate on who you would have hired? And please stop with the a great coach will come for the money. That’s been proven false so many times.

Alabama, clemson and Ohio state run a power run game out of a spread look. They're deep at receiver and they utilize that. Uga probably Will more this year too with the new qb. They haven't changed that much. When bama has Medicare qbs they run a very safe offense predicated on running it between the hash marks. The notion that everybody is just running all passing wide open offenses isn't true. Bama, Uga, Clemson, ohio state run the ball down people throats and play great defense. Thats hasnt changed. When clemson dog walked Alabama for the title they did it on defense. Defense and running the ball still wins titles, it just looks different now. I promise our defensive philosophy will be the polar opposite of bama, clemson, uga, etc. And its not bc of our roster, Its the guy we hired. Playing bend but dont break defense with DBs playing 7 yards off the receiver will never work in this league. Thats why uga/bama/florida dont play like that.

 

[Rooster1]

Tennessee used to be a traditional SEC power in college football. We wore our historic home and away uniforms. We never thought gimmicks and alternate uniforms were cool. When Alabama went through their bad years in the 90s/early 2000s, they didn't start checkering the stadium and wearing corny alternate uniforms. They stayed true to their tradition and never felt the need to try to do the lame stuff everybody else in cfb did to try to be relevant. UT today seems to think wearing smokey grey uniforms and black uniforms this year isn't a slap in the face of what real Tennessee football is and stands for. We hire coaches who cant recruit in the SEC and play the opposite brand of football that wins in the SEC. I hate Alabama and hope they lose every game they play but UT throwing away all tradition to be the opposite of Alabama doesnt seem like a way to not get the breaks beat off of you year in and year out. Why Tennessee fans continue to embrace being a corny football program is mind boggling. Pretending hiring coaches that get SMOKED in recruiting and play a gimmicky brand of football translating into catching the big boys in the SEC looks stupid and we pretend it doesnt every year. Its embarrassing to the tradition of the program on all levels.

define “gimmicky offense”.

 

[KnoxvilleVol13]

define “gimmicky offense”.

I should have said gimmicky defense to be fair. I think JH is a good offensive mind. I dont like the bend but dont break defense mixed with the fastest tempo offense in the country. You'll die like that in this league. Them 4th quarters when you cant get off the field are tough to watch. Especially when a grown man SEC oline is running you over up front.

 

[Cartervol]

Well Tennessee is a more liberal school, so in a lot of ways they're going to be opposite of Alabama. Opposite in commitment to excellence for sure. Not opposite in extorting their fans for large sums of money, at least Bama delivers though. I've always said if you're going to play in the same sand box you have to get your hands dirty or get out of the sandbox. Seems the higher brass at UT like the money they extort but they're not serious in competing for anything meaningful. Seen it way too many times to be coincidence. Best thing that could happen to Tennessee is they find that freak QB that makes everyone better. They're not going to build a team like Bama builds every year. Got to hope for that lightening in bottle at this point.

 

[njvols]

Tennessee used to be a traditional SEC power in college football. We wore our historic home and away uniforms. We never thought gimmicks and alternate uniforms were cool. When Alabama went through their bad years in the 90s/early 2000s, they didn't start checkering the stadium and wearing corny alternate uniforms. They stayed true to their tradition and never felt the need to try to do the lame stuff everybody else in cfb did to try to be relevant. UT today seems to think wearing smokey grey uniforms and black uniforms this year isn't a slap in the face of what real Tennessee football is and stands for. We hire coaches who cant recruit in the SEC and play the opposite brand of football that wins in the SEC. I hate Alabama and hope they lose every game they play but UT throwing away all tradition to be the opposite of Alabama doesnt seem like a way to not get the breaks beat off of you year in and year out. Why Tennessee fans continue to embrace being a corny football program is mind boggling. Pretending hiring coaches that get SMOKED in recruiting and play a gimmicky brand of football translating into catching the big boys in the SEC looks stupid and we pretend it doesnt every year. Its embarrassing to the tradition of the program on all levels.

Mid season form already?

Who cares what bama does, but I don't think we wore anything but Orange/White combos the last couple years. Oregon changes their uniforms every week and generally like them. I don't like the greys at all, and like our traditional orange and white, but I would be in favor of an alt uniform w/ mat orange helmets w/ all orange uni's. At some point every tradition is new...running thru the T, checkerboards, Davey Crockett, even the Tennessee Walker from back in the day. Bama's got a new light show, so we had to do it to...but who cares.

JH appears to be the most genuinely authentic coach (w/o weird personality quirks you have to look past) we've had in a LONG time...seems pretty smart and seems to be getting buy in on culture, much more so than last 3 coaches in Y1/Y0. Gotta start somewhere. I don't have delusions of grandeur, but I think he's got a shot. If Milton is the real deal, just watch how fast the re-build picks up steam in recruiting.

 

[Delmar]

Thats part of college football. When you lose Hall of fame coaches, there's usually down periods with alot of coaching turnover until the right one arrives. My point is Alabama never blew up their tradition and panic to stay relevant like UT is doing. Ive never seen Alabama disrespect their tradition. Their fans would never stand for that.. Ours embraces it and pretends its cool.

Head on down to Tuscaloosa with the rest of the sidewalk alumni then. Ain’t nothin’ holding you back. If all you got to complain about over the last 15 years is uniforms, you honestly haven’t been paying attention.

 

[KnoxvilleVol13]

Well Tennessee is a more liberal school, so in a lot of ways they're going to be opposite of Alabama. Opposite in commitment to excellence for sure. Not opposite in extorting their fans for large sums of money, at least Bama delivers though. I've always said if you're going to play in the same sand box you have to get your hands dirty or get out of the sandbox. Seems the higher brass at UT like the money they extort but they're not serious in competing for anything meaningful. Seen it way too many times to be coincidence. Best thing that could happen to Tennessee is they find that freak QB that makes everyone better. They're not going to build a team like Bama builds every year. Got to hope for that lightening in bottle at this point.

I agree with most of that too. But in UTs defense if you can sell mediocre coaches to the fans and they eat it up like they haven't seen the same movie for the last 15 years, why stop now. They know UT fans will carry water for any mediocre coach they bring in and still fill up neyland. Its a great fan base.

 

[KnoxvilleVol13]

Head on down to Tuscaloosa with the rest of the sidewalk alumni then. Ain’t nothin’ holding you back. If all you got to complain about over the last 15 years is uniforms, you honestly haven’t been paying attention.

Are you lashing out bc what I said is true or bc I said it out loud?

 

[Cartervol]

I agree with most of that too. But in UTs defense if you can sell mediocre coaches to the fans and they eat it up like they haven't seen the same movie for the last 15 years, why stop now. They know UT fans will carry water for any mediocre coach they bring in and still fill up neyland. Its a great fan base.

Sure is. An the very reason they can continue to be idiots.

 

[O.G.HomeGrownUTVOL]

Yes. We fired a loaded SEC staff who could recruit their ass off and knew the SEC and its recruiting ground like the back of their hand. To hire a DC who coached on the worst defense in the history of the Penn State. To hire a HC who made UCF worse every year and has shown zero ability to recruit in even the top half of the SEC. Were battling Vandy/kentucky in Recruiting. Pruitt inherited a 4 win roster with the worst qb in the history of the program. If you say he had 2 years to find a qb thats fair, but we all knew that would take 5/6 years to turn around and when it didn't happen in 3 we reacted like children and hired a worse staff and have a worse roster/recruiters bc of it. Well be ready to fire JH by the end of this year and well do the whole stupid chirade again and set our program back another 10 years. But yes we fired the coach trying to be like bama. God forbid that ever happens lol. At least we can still checker the stadium and lose by 40 to real SEC schools.

Let me guess, You would still have Cornbread coaching at Tennessee too? Smdh!

 

[KnoxvilleVol13]

Sure is. An the very reason they can continue to be idiots.

the gift and the curse my friend.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Are you lashing out bc what I said is true or bc I said it out loud?

It’s neither. He is just calling out stupidity when he sees it.